How To Become A Media Buyer (No Degree)

In this episode, I share my journey from working in sales to becoming a self-taught media buyer and eventually running my own marketing business. I break down the exact steps I took, from investing in online courses and completing unpaid internships to landing my first freelance clients, agency roles, and ultimately going full-time on my own. I also explain why media buying remains a valuable career in 2026, how AI is changing the industry, and offer practical advice for anyone looking to break into digital marketing or paid advertising.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Alright guys, hope you're doing well. Sam here, back again with another one. So I'm gonna make this video about how to become a media buyer. So this is from my own personal experience as a self-skilled media buyer, and by that I mean I didn't have a marketing, I don't have a marketing degree, I didn't go to any college full marketing or learning how to become a media buyer. It was based on purely my self-directed study, which landed me ultimately my first freelance clients and then my first jobs and subsequent jobs as a media buyer. Okay, so basically I was it was 2019, I was in Australia, and I was working in sales. I had a sales role, and I was really unhappy with the with the kind of work I was doing. I stopped loving sales essentially. I wanted something which could be done remote, and I wanted something, I just wanted a new path, something which was more creative as well, which you could earn well and also be done remote. And then I saw an ad, I think it was a it was a Google ad or a Facebook ad, I can't quite remember, and it was from Seth Himes. Um, so you can check him out, Himes H Y-M-E-S. And he had a free course, which was his his now I know it was his opt-in, it was his lead magnet. Um, and then off after you do that free course, which is like a mini course, then he upsold you his full course, which at the time was only £500. So for me, that was like, okay, if I get a new skill from this and I can actually generate get a job from just doing this course, then £500 is nothing really. So took that course, started learning things like WordPress, SEO, how to make an opt-in form, to collect emails, and also some some Google ads as well. So that was my foundation in digital marketing. Then shortly after that, I started following a guy called Richard Niche, who also has a digital marketing and uh kind of like an education company showing people how to become marketers, and I I actually entered a competition. He said he's gonna give away access to all of his courses to one lucky subscriber if you comment and share the video. I commented and shared the video and I've won. I did not expect that. Um, so I took his courses, which were great. There was one on meta-ads, there was one on crafting offers, I think, there was one on funnels, and that was a really valuable um addition to the courses. Um, had I have actually had to pay for those, um, I'm not sure the exact cost, but it would have been a few thousand, but totally worth it. I would definitely recommend uh taking some of Rich's courses there. So then what so after that period of doing those two courses, I'd started um I discovered a website called Gen M, which I think is called Acadium now, where you can essentially find companies who are looking for um you can find um v voluntary work to gain experience essentially, so you can get like an internship. The whole point of the website is to find internships. This is how I got my first real world working experience in digital marketing. So I I did that, I did a couple of internships, worked for free, put that on my CV, and then my first real job came from um whenever I was in the Gold Coast in Australia, and I applied for a role as a social media manager and media buyer uh for like a fitness nutrition company. I applied to go work in there and got the role. It was only part-time, but it gave me a foot in the door. Also, during this time, um, I was reaching out to people on Instagram mainly, um, asking them if they need uh have they run paid ads, do they need any ads, or they need a new website, funnel, uh just offering my marketing services to them. And I got a few clients that way. So definitely even if you don't have any like uh on-the-job experience yet, uh if you I would recommend starting off by doing some unpaid internships, even if it's just for like three to six three months, um, get the experience, and then you can start reaching out to people and uh land your first few freelance clients, and um, yeah. And then also after that role, the part-time role, I then landed my first agency role, which was in um in an agency who worked in many different niches, and that was predominantly the paid, the paid ads side of things. And during this time, of course, I'd done some like LinkedIn certifications, some Google certifications, all which are free or don't really cost very much, and that allowed me to land my job in a marketing agency and actually start earning like a decent salary. Stayed with that agency for a year and a half, then left Australia, worked for an agency in the UK for like two years, and then eventually decided I started I started getting some freelance gigs at that time, and I was like, you know what, I think I'm ready to make the leap into doing my own thing. So then I started doing some outreach on the side. Once I was confident enough that I had enough coming in to support myself, I quit the job and I went all in on the freelancing, and um, yeah, so that's essentially how I got to this point today. So if I was you, if I was in your situation and you're looking to either change career or you're looking to become a media buyer, or you're just curious about this career path, I I would recommend those two those two courses. What Seth Hems, the Seth Himes Digital Marketing Blueprint, and uh Richard Niche, uh his marketing academy, any of his courses are great. Um, that's those are the two which helped me get started. Go on Gen M or Acadian, whatever it's called now, do some unpaid internships for a bit, get some experience, and then um start reaching out to agencies. Um, I personally found most success finding jobs, um, just co-calling agencies, like actually picking up the phone and saying, Do you need anyone? rather than applying for a job listing which is gonna have like a hundred applicants, and then you just get lost in the pile of resumes. Just call them up, they're gonna appreciate the initiative that you've taken. That's how I landed my first agency role in Australia. So, yeah, don't be shy, pick up the phone, be honest about where you are. Chances are a lot of a lot of agencies uh struggle to find good media buyers. I still think it is uh it is a career which is in demand, and paid ads aren't going anywhere. Um, if anything, they're just gonna become more in demand uh as businesses um realize the importance of digital and you can't really rely on organic reach. You need to really businesses now like really rely on paid ads across platforms Meta, Google, Microsoft, Amazon. So learning these skills, it's you can use it to get a job, you can use it to freelance, or you can just learn it and then apply it to your own business if you want to like use paid ads to scale your e-commerce store or your physical uh local service business or something like that. I think it's it's a really great skill to learn. Um, it's changing a lot now with AI in the way that campaigns are actually set up. It means you can launch and test ads a lot faster, a lot easier. You can split test so much, so many more ad variations, whereas before it would take you a lot more time to do so. And you can also use the AI now to pull campaign data and analytics directly from the platforms through Claude's MCP, which allows you to get a good read on what's going on, which saves a lot of time as well, without you having to dive too deeply into diagnosing any campaign bottlenecks. So, yeah, that would be my advice to anyone looking to become a media buyer. Uh, do I think it's still a good career in 2026? I do. I enjoy I enjoy working as a media buyer, like I've enjoyed working within agencies and in-house. Um agencies are gonna be agencies are fast-paced, you're gonna be managing, you know, a lot of clients, maybe like 15 to 20 clients, um, once you're experienced, and um some media buy roles you do client calls, others have an account manager to do the client calls, and you just manage the campaigns. Um, but typically you'll do a little combination, you will do a combination of both. So I'd recommend it for someone who has a good analytical mind, a good creative problem-solving mind, um, to come up with new ad angles. Um, marketing is a lot of psychology as well, so understanding ideal, uh understand your ICP and what makes them tick and the problems that they um are looking to have solved by your service. It's um it's vital that you understand a little bit of psychology as well. But I would definitely, yeah, I think it's a good I think it's a good option for someone who is looking to earn a decent salary or even start their own agency or business. It's a great skill to learn. So, guys, hope you found this video helpful. If you have any questions about becoming a media buyer or you want to know any more, then just feel free to reach out to me. You can um follow me on Instagram. My business page is Sam HortonBiz, and you can just DM me directly there, and I'll answer any questions that you have. So, if you enjoyed this video, make sure you subscribe to the channel, hit thumbs up, and I'll see you on the next one. Peace out.